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Sleep

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Marine Mammals

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Abstract

Sleep remains poorly understood but is believed to be an essential biological process that occurs in mammals, birds, and reptiles. Based on electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings, the transition from wakefulness to sleep at the cortical level occurs as a change from bihemispheric, low-amplitude, irregular fast waves to high-amplitude slow waves called slow-wave sleep (SWS). Behavioral sleep in terrestrial mammals is usually associated with closed eyes and varying degrees of body relaxation, immobility, and a reduced level of vigilance, but a return to wakefulness with sufficient stimuli. Some Odontoceti exhibit unusual unihemispheric slow-wave sleep (USWS), while the other hemisphere shows an EEG pattern typical of wakefulness compatible with swimming and surfacing to breathe without awakening the sleeping hemisphere. Bihemispheric SWS is rare and REM sleep per se does not occur. In Otariidae, sleep on land is primarily bihemispheric SWS and REM sleep similar to terrestrial mammals. In water, USWS is more prevalent similar to dolphins. In Phocidae, only bihemispheric SWS and REM sleep have been recorded. Behavioral data indicate walruses experience bihemispheric SWS and REM sleep on land and in water but reduce the amount of sleep while at sea with compensatory sleep when back onshore. Manatees display bihemispheric sleep, USWS, and REM. In captive sea otters, behavioral sleep is consistent with SWS and REM sleep both on land and in water.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Biology, Texas A&M University, Galveston, TX, USA

    Randall W. Davis

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Davis, R.W. (2019). Sleep. In: Marine Mammals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98280-9_9

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